Christian Foundations

Teaching about, and through, Christianity in the new millennium requires considerable accuracy, since the number of alternative responses to the origins of Christianity is immense, yet it is still regarded as the heritage religion of the UK.

It is logical, when starting to study a religion, to look back at its origins and foundations. Although most of the students you teach will have some experience of the ‘Jesus story’, some will not; whilst others will have partial knowledge and understanding. Many will have a version of reality overlaid with myth, inaccuracies and confused accounts of the events.

The aim of this section, therefore, is to provide your students with an accurate account of some of Jesus’ life, so that they can come to their own understanding of his importance in history. Part of the intention is to remove some of the more elaborate stories that have been superimposed on his story by Christian disciples keen to prove that Jesus was God. It is this claim that lies at the heart of the Christian religion, and which is central to the doctrinal belief that Jesus is the turning point of history.

The oldest, and most reliable, stories about Jesus were written between 30 and 70 years after his death by people who claimed that the authority for their versions of the truth were Jesus’ closest associates – the apostles and disciples. These writings are known as the ‘Gospels’ in English, which comes from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘Godspel’ meaning ‘good news’. The ‘good news’ they report is that a man named Jesus was born, who lived a saintly life performing miracles and preaching about the deepest truths of the universe, before he became unpopular with the religious and political authorities of the time and was executed for treason. Hardly ‘good news’! It becomes earth-shattering news when linked with the doctrine of salvation that suggests that this man was God incarnate (in the form of human flesh) and that, by dying and rising again (his resurrection), he has made entry to the Kingdom of God possible for all people.

You will find it helpful to read through the background materials here, particularly areas relating to resurrection, salvation and gospel, in order to be prepared for teaching this section accurately.

Background information

Jesus and the Gospels

Sources of authority

The life of Christ

Refer to the Christian beliefs tour of the virtual visit, particularly screens 14-21.